Front Suspension, Do or Delay Options

[iankarr]

Um. Is the logic here..."I'm still alive, so all's good?" 10 years is the outside limit for any car I drive or put my loved ones in. There's just too much at stake to leave things to chance. Driving a 50 year old car in general commands a tremendous commitment to maintenance and heightened awareness on the road. Please don't tempt fate.

[Shivers]

By all means replace at least the rear bushing in the front a-arms. That will have sagged to the point that the torsion bar is rubbing on the ID of the arm, loosing paint protection thus leading to corrosion and torsion bar fracture.

Thanks for sharing. Had not read about this. Are you referring to #22 in the parts catalog?

While in this section, I see a note that front stabilizer is 73-. Is that correct? No front stabilizer on 914-6? Ours currently has one. I assume that since I removed the rear I should remove the front as well. [u][size=3]If removed, what goes in its place? Is there a plug for the mount?

Nooooooo. Leave the front on and what was the matter with the rear.

[DennisV]

Dennis, Does your rack and pinion come from a 914 or since it was assembled in the Porsche factory does it have a "ZF" box like a 911. My reason for asking is because our real 6 has been apart for 35 years and I have 3 914 R&Ps and three "ZF" with a large ZF on the casting. Al

Hi Al. I have no idea. Our car is a factory 914-6, not a conversion. Not sure if that answers the question. I will be with the car this weekend and can look for "ZF" marking.

[DennisV]

Nooooooo. Leave the front on and what was the matter with the rear.

The rear was a hatchet job done by a previous owner. It was held in place with about 20 washers and bolts stuck in a cavity rather than through the trunk floor with brackets. I initially started to remove it to replace the plastic bushings. They were broken.

[DennisV]

Dennis, Does your rack and pinion come from a 914 or since it was assembled in the Porsche factory does it have a "ZF" box like a 911. My reason for asking is because our real 6 has been apart for 35 years and I have 3 914 R&Ps and three "ZF" with a large ZF on the casting. Al

Hi Al. Following up on your question. Here is a photo of the rack out of the car (1970 factory 914-6). You can see the "ZF" marking. Let me know if you're looking for something else.

[burton73]

Dennis, Does your rack and pinion come from a 914 or since it was assembled in the Porsche factory does it have a "ZF" box like a 911. My reason for asking is because our real 6 has been apart for 35 years and I have 3 914 R&Ps and three "ZF" with a large ZF on the casting. Al

Hi Al. Following up on your question. Here is a photo of the rack out of the car (1970 factory 914-6). You can see the "ZF" marking. Let me know if you're looking for something else.

Note: this is the one from my 85 carrera and the ZF is in the casting of body, not on the cover. I have no idea what it means?

[Mikey914]

There are several versions of the racks. We have found there are 3 main types.
The type A which is most common in the 914, 4 different versions of it.
The type B which we find in 914's and 911's
The type C (which is the larger shown) more common in early 911's and 912's, again sever different variations, some include a stabilizer bar.

https://914rubber.com/search/?q=steering+rack

There are multiple variations on each of these, but they are easiest grouped into these 3 categories.

Please not the prices on the website include the core, we charge enough that returns are encouraged.
The 85 Carerra version shown below

[Mikey914]

There are a few oddballs, but technically they are interchangeable. We even can do the Quaife gear reduction swaps too.
In addition we polish al lnternals and hold tighter tolerances than factory.

We originally wanted to sell these as kits, but found that there were some special tools and experience needed to put them together correctly with the higher tolerance parts

[vitamin914]

"Tires are another thing that I don't trust at all over 7-8 years old."

I'm still running on 23 year old Sears Guardsman (Michelin) tires. I had the car out today for a long spin at peaks of around 90 mph. Plenty of tread left with no bulges. Leave it to the French for superior technology. The car has been garaged all of its rescued life. Go figure.

Life is full of myths & little science. Most people don't know what they're talking about when it comes to reliability statistics.

I'm now going to watch Charles Bronson in "Death Wish."

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/screwy.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/screwy.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/screwy.gif)

Yeah, it is hard to wrap your head around the expense that you need to replace tires just because they are old. They look fine and still seem to work fine. But they are a ticking time bomb.

Here is a story from Hagerty by Jay Leno and his experience with old tires. He needs 1200 new tires. Not cheap even for someone in his league...

Better safe than sorry.


https://www.hagerty.com/media/opinion/jay-l...out-1200-tires/

[technicalninja]

My landlord has a 2012 Bentley.
His wife got it for his 60th birthday gift.
This car truly has 2,700 miles on it.

The brand new 11-year-old tires went concave across the tread.
They were all at least 1/2" concave across the tread...

Way weird!

4 new expensive tires and 4 new TPMS valve cores.

From Bentley those TPMS units were $180 each. They were Huff brand which is common with VW stuff.

TPMS.com was able to provide 4 brand new German Huff valves for $120 shipped.

Even on a Bentley I'm hunting "best bang for the buck".

[rhodyguy]

The cost to refurb a rack is eye opening. Not arguing price. It is what it is.

Build your budget for the new components needed to do it all just once. A corner bal and 4 wheel alignment really improves the handling. Then project creep sets in. While you’re in there…